The Greatest Leaders are defined by Principles and guided by Conscience.

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Leadership Dilemma: Bowe Bergdahl and Prisoner Swaps

When the secret deal of swapping Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl for 5 Taliban prisoners was uncovered, the U.S. Congress vehemently protested. They say it’s against the law. What happened to the 30-day notice and things like that?

On the other hand, the White House banked on two related functions that the Constitution assigns the President: protecting the lives of Americans abroad and protecting U.S. soldiers.

While the world knows that you should not negotiate with terrorists, the contention is that there’s a life at stake. Yet whether this life cost the lives of 6 of his comrades is a different story.

So, what do you do?

Congress says this action may set a precedent in future abduction-related deals. But the author believes, a life is still a life. What if the one captured is not simply your countryman but a relative? Let’s face facts. Countrymen issues is really about the pride of the nation. That one of theirs got captured and so the humiliation. But a loved one involves emotions that if it happens to you, it’s like sitting on a hot stove. See the difference?

But then as President, whether it’s your loved one or not, as long as he’s your countryman – you should treat such cases as like happening to family. This is something that Congress and non relatives understandably don’t understand.

Now, once you get back Bergdahl then you could further investigate whatever accusations he is accused of. This is much better than leaving him tortured by the Taliban. The problem here however is the imbalanced prisoner exchange..

And more so, yes, the real issue is really about torturing. That’s on both sides, and actually on almost any country captivity happens to. We don’t really know what’s going on behind those bars just for the captor to get an advantage. And yet, these leaders talk about human rights.

The ideal solution to captives is to immediately notify the country concerned to set a precedent of immediate negotiations for any group with captives. But that’s the ideal. However, if leaders are really concerned then they should try to make this ideal into reality. The Taliban maybe dangerous, but in reality, anyone mentally unstable and possessing a gun is.